Britain air pollution shortens lives by up to nine years

EVEN breathing can be dangerous these days. Air pollution is knocking up to nine years off the lives of people who live in pollution hotspots or have a respiratory illness. So says a report by the UK House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee. Tiny particles of sulphate, carbon and dust are the most damaging to health, but nitrogen oxides and ozone also have an effect. The UK is in breach of European regulations for all of these, and could face fines of up to £300 million. Road transport is the main culprit. Power plants also churn out damaging particles but mostly away from cities. Only a radical shift in transport policy will allow the UK to meet its targets, the report concludes. “But such a shift is unlikely to occur in the next 10 years, unless the government starts taking sustainable transport seriously,” says Paul Firmin of the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, UK.

British air is shortening lives by nine years

Britain’s filthy air kills 50,000 people a year – more than obesity, passive smoking or traffic accidents, a damning report by MPs has said. Ministers have been rebuked for failing to tackle the lethal problem, risking millions of pounds in fines for failing to meet EU quality standards. MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee warned that climate-change targets were even exacerbating air pollution. The Government has encouraged people to drive diesel cars which were more fuel efficient but created more particulates, while the introduction of biomass boilers in urban areas also led to air pollution. Poor air quality is linked to respiratory illness, heart disease and asthma, conditions which can dramatically lower life expectancy. On average people across the UK lose seven to eight months of their lives because of filthy air. But in pollution hotspots, that rises to eight or nine years. Despite the devastating consequences, the Government is putting very little effort into reducing air pollution compared to its drive to cut smoking, alcohol misuse and obesity, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee said. Tim Yeo, the Tory MP and chairman of the committee, said the Government should be ‘ashamed’ of its inaction.  ‘Air pollution probably causes more deaths than passive smoking, traffic accidents or obesity, yet it receives very little attention from Government or from the media.’ ‘In the worst affected areas, this invisible killer could be taking years off the lives of people most at risk, such as those with asthma.’ He added that much more needed to be done to save lives and reduce the ‘enormous burden’ air pollution placed on the NHS. …

Air pollution in the UK ‘killing 50,000 people a year’, warn MPs